Oil thief



1943 A. J.-JUNGE 2,447,861

OIL THIEF Filed Feb. 21, 1947 INVENTOR ARTHUR J JUNGE- ATTORN EYPatented Aug. 24, 1948 UNIT E D S TAT ES PATE F F ICE 2,447,86i OIL TIEF Arthur'd". Junge, St. Louis, Mo.

Application February 21, 1947-, SerialNo. 780,118

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to. oil. thievesand the like.

Devices of this character are principally used in samplin a body ofliquids where the. liquids havev a tendency to stratify. This occurs instored gasoline and oils and also in tank cars used in transporting thesame. calculate thearnount of water present in the bottom of. a tank itis necessary to take an accurate.

sample. A sample must be taken with a sampling device which will leastdisturb the stratiflcaw tion of the liquids during entrapment.

It is an object of. the invention; therefore, tov

provide an oil. thief which will not disturb the strata duringsuspension and. one in which the releasing mechanism-used to operate avalve for entrapping the sampled liquids in a container will not disturbthis stratification whileclosing,

It is also an object of the invention to provide an oil thief inwhichaquantity of the liquids to be sampled areentrapped therein by avalve-which.

is closed after suspension of the device to the. bottom of a tank inwhich the liquidsare .contained, said valve bein closed by a slackeningof an element for suspending the device.

'It is a further object ofthe invention to provide an oil thief that issimple in construction and that will be emcient and durable inoperation.

While the scope of the invention is defined in the appended. claims, thefollowing. detailed description of a preferred embodiment shown in theaccompanying drawing, will disclose the. invention, its construction anduse.

Fig. 1 is a vert cal sectional view of an oil thief embodying theinvention as it is suspended in a liquid medium,

Fi 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same in which the entrapmentball has been released, and

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the same at right angles to Fig.2.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has an elongated cylindricalbody or barrel H which is constructed of a transparent material. On eachend of the body or barrel I I, top and bottom end members I2 and I3,respectively, are secured to form a container M.

The top end member 12 has an opening l5 whose edges are straight. Anaperture I6 is formed into the bottom end member l3. This aperture [6 isso fashioned as to have its inner portion conically shaped to form aseat l! for an entrapment ball is to act as a valve for entrapping thesampled liquid in the container [4 (Fig. 2). On the outer portion of thebottom member I3 the sides of the aperture l6 are straight.

In. order to be ableto.

. 2 Ih'.oi'derto. hold the ball l8. away from the seat H as thecontainerI4. issuspendedin the liquid" to be sampleda ball retaining and releasemechanism.l9 is provided. This mechanism l9 has a trigger arm. 21attached thereto for suspending the container M in the liquid. As isshown in the drawings, theball retaining and release mecha-.

nism i9 and thetrig er arm. 2| are fashioned from arod bent so as toform a suspension eye 22 at its upper or. protruding end. The bottom endis bent to. form a looped, hooked shaped're t ainer 23 to hold the balll8. Thus, it can be seen that the trigger arm 2 l is slidably mounted inthey opening 15' of the top end member l2. The diameter of the Opening,15, however, is not critical. but itshould' be of such diameter as toallow for efficientoperation without the hindrance. of frictioriand alsobe small enough so as not .to' cum an excessive amount of play.

A. pin 24"which is diametrically positioned be.- tween the walls of thebarrel H is encased with a tubular covering 25 to sealthe inside of thecontainer l4 at joints 26'. This. pin 24 withits'" covering 25 acts as astop to engage an inwardly slopingportion Z'T'of the retainer 23 as thecon;- tai'nerdd is suspended by the suspension eye-22.. It, therefore,is apparent that the pin 24 and-its covering 25 perform an additionalfunction of camm'ing the retainer 23 to hold the entrapment ball l3betweenthe former and the wall of the barrel H. Further, the pinrestricts the movement' of'the ball [8 within the barrel ll betweenit'and the bottom endmember l3. This will-have apparent advantages aswill be seen in the de"- scription of the use of the invention.

A bent portion 28 of the trigger arm 2| is formed to enable a largerhooked, shaped retainer 23 to be fashioned, and also to give greatermovement to this retainer 23. Thus, the bent portion 28 allows surerreleasing of the ball l8 and at the same time allows greater ease ininserting the ball/ l8 into the retainer 23.

In the use of the device, the ball 18, which is restricted to movementin the lower portion of the container l4 between the pin 24 and thebottom end member I3, is placed into the retaining hook 23. This isaccomplished by tilting the container l4 sufficiently to let the ball [8roll into the retainer 23. The trigger arm 2| is then pulled out by thesuspension eye 22 to hold the ball [8 between the retainer 23 and thewall of the barrel H as aforedescribed. It is apparent that since thebarrel is constructed of a transparent material the insertion of theball l8 into the retainer 23 can be accomplished with great ease.

The container 14 is now held by the suspension eye 22. A suspendingmeans such as a line or string is attached to the eye 22, therebyrendering the device ready to be placed into a tank to be sampled.

After the device has been suspended to the bottom of a tank, the ball isheld in the retainer 23 for several seconds to allow the liquids tostratify to approximately the same extent as the liquids in the tank.Thesuspension line is then slackened slightly, thereby releasing theball l8 which drops into the seat I! as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, by thedownward movement of the triger arm 21. The container [4 is thenwithdrawn from the tank with the sampled liquid having the samestartification characteristics as has the liquid in the tank.

The movement of the trigger arm 2| downwardly in releasing the ball [8from the retainer 23 is such that at no time are the layers or strata ofliquids in the container 14 disturbed to an appreciable extent. This isdue primarily to the fact that the releasing mechanism I 9 operates inthe lower portion of the container 14 near the seat H which generallycontains one stratum of liquid, also, because this releasing mechanismis placed in the lower portion of the container 14, the ball 18 has avery small distance to drop to entrap the sample in the container [4.

Therefore, it can be seen that the device of the instant inventionaccomplishes its objects in that the disturbance caused by the releasingmechanism will be so small that none of the strata of liquids in thecontainer 14 will be greatly changed and the sample taken willcorrespond to the actual strata of liquids in the sampled tank.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction within thescope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of thisinvention. Parts of the invention may be used without the whole andimprovements may be added while retaining some or all of the advantagesof the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an oil thief, an elongated barrel having a first aperture at oneend thereof, a ball for closing said first aperture, a trigger armcarried in said barrel and extending through a second aperture in theother end of said barrel through which liquid is passed having asuspension eye at one end thereof adapted to receive a suspending line,a retainer at the other end of said trigger arm, and a stop againstwhich said trigger arm is movable to position said retainer to hold saidball out of engagement with said first aperture while said device islowered to a bottom of a tank of liquids, said trigger arm being furtheroperable to release said ball to close said first aperture and therebyentrap a sample of liquids in said barrel upon a slackening of thesuspending line.

2. In combination with an oil thief having an elongated barrel, anaperture at one end thereof and a ball for closing said aperture andretainable in a seat formed as a part of said aperture, a valveoperating mechanism comprising a trigger arm carried within said barrelhaving a suspension eye at one end thereof protruding outside andthrough another aperture in said barrel said eye being adapted toreceive a suspending line or string, a ball retaining hook at the otherend of said trigger arm, and a stop against which said trigger arm ismovable to hold said ball out of engagement with said seat as saiddevice is lowered to the bottom of a tank, said trigger arm beingmovable also to release said ball upon a slackening of said suspendingline to close said first mentioned aperture and entrap a sample ofliquids in said barrel after said device has been lowered as aforesaid.

3. In an oil thief having an elongated transparent barrel, a top andmember having an opening therein, a bottom end member having an aperturetherein and a ball valve for closing the aperture in said bottom member,the improvement of a ball operating mechanism comprising a trigger armwithin said barrel having a suspension eye at one end thereof protrudingoutside said barrel and adapted to receive a line for lowering saiddevice to the bottom of a tank of liquids to be sampled, a ballretaining hook fashioned at the other end of said trigger arm, and a pincarried horizontally in said barrel and affixed thereto, said pin beingactionable to cam said retaining hook to retain and hold said ballwithin said hook as said device is lowered as aforesaid and to releasesaid ball upon a slackening of said line to entrap a sample of liquidsin said barrel after said device has reached the bottom of said tank.

ARTHUR J. JUNGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 1,511,591 Colligan Oct. 14, 1924

